Allison Gall
English 422-51
Tom Roche & Bo Smith
12-20-2013
Misogyny in Shakespeare
For years, women have held positions of power while still being oppressed in other ways .
A prime example of this phenomenon is the Elizabethan era that Shakespeare wrote in . The
English queen, Elizabeth, was a woman in a position of utmost power, which was unheard of;
however, as a part of court and high society, she got an education comparable to that of men at
the time, which was a rarity for women. Therefore, her role in society was different than that of
a lower class woman whom would have no education and no political power because they did
not have the right to vote or own land. William Shakespeare is known for injecting pieces of
society into his works, especially things of the social or religious arenas . The role of women in
the Elizabethan era is mirrored in the female characters of Shakespeare’s plays, most notably
how the male characters tend to use females as pawns and how they are treated as objects instead
of people. The representation of women as weak and subservient to men is also propagated in
Shakespeare’s plays because of the way that the female characters are shown as obedient to the
patriarch. This behavior and treatment of women is best seen in the play Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark in the character of Ophelia.
Women in Elizabethan society were considered second-class citizens. According to the
book entitled Shakespeare Alive! the portion titled “Like a Virgin: Queen Elizabeth and the
Status of Women”, “most women were denied the chance to be schooled beyond the basics”
(Papp, Kirkland 68-84). Their lack of education attributed to the fact that they were kept in their
place by their husbands, because there were not any jobs for women during the time period . In
fact, “the only career open to all Elizabethan women was marriage; a wife’s job was to run the
household and help her husband in whatever he did” (Papp, Kirkland 68-84). Because the
women were forced to stay at home and work for their husband, the man controlled the woman .
For example, if the woman needed to visit a friend or relative, she must ask permission;
however, the same applied for smaller affairs as well. In other words, “whatever freedom [the
woman] had was granted – and taken away – by her husband” (Papp, Kirkland 68-84). In fact,
not only was the woman at the mercy of her husband, but all of her belongings were too! Laws in
the Elizabethan era prevented women from owning property, and that stretched to her clothes
and jewelry as well (Papp, Kirkland 68-84). This treatment of women which allowed for her to
not even truly possess her own clothing also lent itself to women becoming the property of their
husbands. While not official, the jump from owning all of a woman’s possessions to owning the
woman herself is not a difficult one to make. Women were also considered frail and weak, with
a great amount of correlation between the softness of her body and the softness of her spirit
(Papp, Kirkland 68-84).
In Hamlet, the character of Ophelia is shown as naïve, under the thumb of her father, and
willing to act as a pawn in the plots of men. In the introduction to the play in the text, David
Bevington writes that, “Obedient by instinct and training to patriarchal instruction, [Ophelia] is
unprepared to cope with divided authority and so takes refuge in passivity” (547). In other
words, because Ophelia has been trained to obey the patriarch of the family, she is confused as to
whom to obey – Claudius in his wish for her to spy on Hamlet, or the wishes of her father and
brother for her to stay away from Hamlet – which leads her to not taking an active role in her
relationship with Hamlet. An example of this is seen in Act I Scene 3 when Laertes and
Polonius tell Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet . In the case of Laertes, he speaks of Ophelia’s
virtue and tells her that she can’t be too careful around Hamlet because her honor is at stake and
that she is liable to lose her virtue to him if she isn’t careful. In fact, Laertes goes so far as to say
“Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,” with it referring to the possible loss of her honor and
virtue to Hamlet (Hamlet, 1.3 ll 29-33). Ophelia’s response to Laertes’ speech is nothing but
telling him that she will take his words to heart. Polonius actually then carries the message to
Ophelia a step farther, telling her that she should “think [herself] a baby that you have ta’en these
tenders for true pay which are not sterling” (Hamlet 1.3 ll 106-8). Here, Polonius is preying on
her naivety and obedience, which essentially become her downfall. He continues, saying “From
this time be something scanter of your maiden presence . Set your entreatments at a higher rate
than a command to parle” (Hamlet 1.3 ll 121-4). In other words, Polonius is emphasizing the
message set forth by Laertes that Ophelia needs to stay away from Hamlet lest she do something
that would put her honor at risk, especially because Hamlet has a bad reputation. Between the
message from her brother and her father, Ophelia is characterized as being weak and naïve . This
characterization lends itself to the development that Ophelia then is extraordinarily obedient to
the men in her life – it suggests that she cannot function without a patriarchal power telling her
what to do. This correlates with the function of women in Elizabethan society because it
demonstrates the idea that everything a woman does must be permissible to the man/men in her
life. In the case of Ophelia, she is not married so she must be under the care of her father and
brother.
As Hamlet progresses, we see that Ophelia becomes a pawn in the plot of Polonius and
Claudius. In Act III Scene 1, Claudius and Polonius want to spy on Hamlet to better understand
his state of “madness,” and thus decide to use Ophelia as their pawn. In fact, Claudius even
sends Gertrude away so that he can better spy on Hamlet . At this point, Polonius poses Ophelia
in order to capture Hamlet’s attention, telling her “Read on this book, that show of such an
exercise may color your loneliness” (Hamlet, 3.1 ll 44-6). Of course, because Ophelia has been
trained to obey her father, as was custom in the Elizabethan era, she does what she is told
without question; however, in this case, it directly contradicts the earlier warnings of both her
brother and father. Here, the reader can see how, as mentioned before, Ophelia is torn between
divided authority and she becomes passive. In other words, instead of standing up for herself, or
making a comment that she was told to stay away from Hamlet, she doesn’t even respond to
Polonius. This scene is extremely important because at this point, Ophelia is unwittingly being
used as an object instead of looked at as a person – her father and the king are using her as a
pawn in their plan to spy on Hamlet, and Ophelia has no knowledge of the situation, especially
that her father and the king are watching her interaction with Hamlet . The objectification of
women, specifically of Ophelia in this section of the play, corresponds to the Elizabethan idea
that women are frail and delicate, and that they are second-class and subservient to men.
Interestingly, there is a correlation between the beginning of Ophelia’s madness and the
death of her father. From the time that Polonius is killed in Act III Scene 4, Ophelia becomes
progressively more insane. Her descent is seen in Act IV Scene 5, when she is with Gertrude
and Claudius. Instead of responding to any of their questions, Ophelia sings about death and
about Valentine’s day, and, according to the stage directions, appears to be distracted. This is
clearly not normal behavior for her character, and the queen and Claudius become very
concerned. In fact, Claudius remarks that “Oh, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from
her father’s death – and now behold!” (Hamlet, 4.5 ll 76-7). In other words, the death of her
father and her grief over the situation caused her descent into madness . However, in keeping
with the Elizabethan era and the role of women in society, it seems more likely that the cause for
Ophelia’s descent is that she did not have a patriarchal figure to instruct her or that she should
obey. Remember, Laertes was gone at the time of Polonius’s death, so she would have been left
to her own devices without a strong male figure to rely on. Mirroring Elizabethan society, a
woman without a man to guide her was in trouble, especially because women traditionally had
no schooling other than in domestic affairs, and they had no legal standing, as they could not
vote or own property. In addition, those who were accused of witchcraft were generally single
women that lived alone. Therefore, Ophelia going mad after losing her father, the male relative
that she was primarily dependent upon, is deeply symbolic of the state of women in Elizabethan
society. It does beg the question that if Ophelia knew that Laertes was coming back if she would
have descended into madness so quickly. It seems that because she was so conflicted as to
which authority to listen to, she would have been confused and become mad despite the different
circumstances. Even Laertes attributes her madness to losing Polonius, saying “A document in
madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted” (Hamlet, 4.5 l 182). The death of Ophelia also plays
into the idea of women as objects – Laertes and Hamlet, who held strong affection for Ophelia,
begin to fight at her funeral over who loved her more. The fight between Laertes and Hamlet
becomes reminiscent of small children fighting over the favorite toy: “It’s my favorite” “NO, it’s
my favoritist!” “It was my favorite first,” etc. The two men are fighting over Ophelia’s body as
if she were a lost toy, not a person. This plays into the Elizabethan idea that women were the
property of men, and that they were considered second-class. With the way that women were
subservient to men and had seemingly no control over their lives, it’s not a far stretch to consider
that women were objectified, and Shakespeare clearly mirrors that aspect of society in the
character of Ophelia.
In conclusion, the misogynistic views of women present in Elizabethan England are
mirrored in the character of Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
All facets of the period’s view on women are present save for the lack of education. From the
beginning, Ophelia is characterized as a weak character, and is repeatedly told that she is naïve
like an infant. This labelling is consistent with Elizabethan views which state that women are
weak in mind and spirit, as well as frail. Women in the Elizabethan era were also looked upon
as objects, which along with all of their possessions were controlled by their husbands. This idea
is shown multiple times throughout the play in Ophelia’s character. She is not only objectified
and used as a pawn by both King Claudius and her own father Polonius, but she is so bound by
the ideal of obedience to the patriarchal figure that she becomes torn as to whom she should
obey. Ophelia’s compulsion to obey strong male figures leads to confusion on her part as to
whether she should primarily obey her father, her brother Laertes, or the king. This creates the
perfect atmosphere for her downfall, which springs from the death of her father, the man who
controlled her and told her what to do. In addition, her compulsion to obey forces her to
unwittingly become a spy for the king on Hamlet, who is both the man that holds her affection
and the man that her father and brother have told her to avoid. Therefore, it can be found that the
misogyny in Elizabethan England, which is mirrored in the character of Ophelia, is what
ultimately causes her death, which is a symbol for the fact that the treatment of women during
that time period would cause the downfall of their society.
Works Cited
Papp, Joseph, and Elizabeth Kirkland. "The Status of Women in Shakespeare's
Time." EXPLORING Shakespeare. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context.
Web. 20 Dec. 2013.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." Ed. David Bevington. The Necessary
Shakespeare. . 4th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. 546-604. Print.